


Psychtober 2017

by one_true_houselight



Category: Psych
Genre: Autumn, Fun, Gen, Halloween, Psychtober, Puzzles, tags updated as I write things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_true_houselight/pseuds/one_true_houselight
Summary: My contributions to this year's PsychtoberEach chapter is a different story. I will put any warnings if needed in their beginning notes.





	1. A Fall Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn, Gus, and Lassie find a puzzle on their desks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has references to the Yang trilogy.  
> Shawn/Juliet

“It’s officially the first day of fall, Gus!”

“Shawn, at least wait until October 1st.”

“Oh come on, Halloween is the pinnacle of fall! And the sooner we start, the more we can space out our decorations.”

Shawn and Gus stood in front of the Psych office, having the same argument they had every year. 

“We only have three things Shawn. And besides, we want to be seen as a professional business, and professional businesses don’t start putting up ghosts before October!”

“Don’t be the third fetalarpal on our office skeleton, Gus.”

“It’s metacarpal, Shawn-”

“I’ve heard it both ways.”

“No, you haven’t. And since when do we have an office skeleton?”

Instead of answering, Shawn unlocked the office door and led Gus back to their desks. Shoved into a corner, a yellowed skeleton stood grinning. 

“That better not be real.”

“Of course not, buddy.” Shawn thought for a second. “At least, I don’t think so.” He dodged as Gus threw their plush basketball at his head. While he was hiding behind the desk, he heard Gus sigh.

“Shawn, these will go bad before we even get to Halloween.” Shawn peeked his head out to see if Gus had stopped throwing things at him. He saw that Gus was handling a small pumpkin that must have been on his desk. Shawn then noticed that he had one as well. “When did you get them, anyway?”

Shawn stood up and grabbed his pumpkin. “I didn’t.” He inspected it. Suddenly, Gus called his name. Shawn looked up. “What?”

Gus showed Shawn his pumpkin, which had a neatly lettered message. Shawn turned his around and found his own message. They both started reading it.

“Meet me at the police station for a fall puzzle!” They looked at each other. Shawn quickly scanned the room to make sure there wasn’t a hidden yin-yang. 

“Hey.” Shawn started at his friend’s voice. “Yin’s gone, Shawn. Sometimes a puzzle is just a puzzle.” Shawn realized he had been tightly clutching the pumpkin.

“You’re right.” He turned the pumpkin to look at the bottom, and was surprised to find more writing, obviously done in more of a hurry. _Hey Shawn. I wanted to take puzzles like this back this fall… I promise everything is ok._ He took some deep breaths. His mom had been talking to him about a lot of things, and one of the things they had discussed was the mistrust Yin had created. And he knew that if he let it run his life, that bastard would win. He looked up with a grin. “All right, let’s go to the station!”

As they left, Shawn felt his phone vibrate in a heartbeat. He pulled it out to see a message from Juliet.

> Hey, I’m pretty sick today. Think I ate something weird. 

Shawn quickly tapped out a reply as he walked towards Gus’s car.

> Do you need anything? Gatorade? Rice?
> 
> Nah, I’m fine. Just didn’t want to you to worry.
> 
> All right. Let me know.

Shawn stowed his phone away as he reached the Blueberry. When he got in, he reached for the radio dial.

“We are not listening to the Ghostbusters soundtrack, Shawn.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“SPENCER!” Shawn and Gus looked at each other as the lanky head detective stormed towards them. 

“Good morning, Lassie!” Shawn had the usual cocky grin that he knew Lassie _hated_. “What have we done to make you so cheery this morning?”

“Maybe we should have brought him a smoothie.” Gus enjoyed hopping into the war of words between his best friend and Lassiter. The latter scowled at this addition.

Shawn lifted his smoothie up for Lassiter’s examination. “They’re pineeeeeapple.” 

Lassiter ignored the two’s antics in favor of noticing the contents of their non-smoothie holding hands. “You brought more to the station, Spencer?” Shawn and Gus looked down.

“Why is everyone blaming me for the pumpkins?” Shawn sounded a little annoyed, probably (Gus thought) because he wished he _had_ come up with the idea. 

“Well if it wasn’t you…” Lassiter stalked back to his desk, leaving Shawn and Gus to follow in confusion. When they reached the desk, Lassie was fervently searching old case files. “I don’t remember if I know of any Santa Barbara Pumpkin Killers, but-”

“Santa Barbara Pumpkin Killers. Now that’s a band name.” This statement is punctuated by a sift shriek as Gus elbowed Shawn in the ribs. Rubbing the point of impact, Shawn continued. “Besides, I don’t think these are a threat.”

Lassiter looks up. “Why?”

Shawn smiles and starts to raise his hand to his head. Lassie grunts at him and goes back to the case files. As Gus glares at Shawn’s attempt to look innocent, Chief Vick walked up to their group. 

“Chief! How are you doing today?” Shawn turned around, a grin plastered on his face. To his surprise, she smiled back with, if he wasn’t mistaken, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

“I’m fine, Mr. Spencer. I assume you’re here because of those?” She indicated the pumpkins with a head tilt. Before Shawn or Gus could answer, Lassiter jumped out of his chair.

“What do you know, Chief? Is it some sick Yin-imitation? Or-”

“Detective, calm down.” Lassiter deflated slightly. “The pumpkins are innocent. The person who left them wanted to make some ‘fall fun’, and got my permission.” 

“Wonderful. So you can tell us what’s going on.” Shawn bounced on the balls of his feet, ready for whatever this person had in store.

Chief Vick sighed. “No, Mr. Spencer. I was vowed to secrecy. All I can do is give you this.” She handed the three men a folded piece of paper. At that moment, Gus noticed something. 

“Where’s Jules?” Lassiter looked up from the paper (which he had already unfolded), and everyone turned to look at Detective O’Hara’s empty desk. 

“She called in sick today. She thinks it’s a 24-hour bug.” As Vick said this, Shawn looked at her face and _saw_. The playful glint from before got a little stronger, and Shawn thought for a second. Before he could draw any real conclusions, Lassiter was already reading what turned out to be a new riddle, and Vick was excusing herself to continue running the station. As she left, she looked back. “Have fun, you three. I’ll see you later.”

Gus watched her leave. “Well. I guess we should get to work.” As he turned to peer at the letter over Lassiter’s shoulder, Shawn quietly pulled his phone out and texted Juliet.

> You’re missing a lot of fun today, darling.
> 
> Eh, that’s everyday here. 
> 
> That’s because I’m here. ;)
> 
> lol. Sure Shawn.
> 
> Feel better.
> 
> Thanks. I’m going to sleep, ttyl.

Shawn sent a perfunctory goodbye and rejoined Lassie and Gus. “So, compatriots. What’ve we got?”

Lassie tilted the note so Shawn could read it:

**Fall is upon us! A chill in the air.  
** **Spooky sounds seem to come from the cracks.  
** **To find the next clue, go to the place  
** **Where your friend managed not to get axed.**

“Nice poetic rhythm. I don’t know how I feel about that rhyme, though.” Gus ignored his friend’s prattle and thought for a moment. Suddenly, he gasped.

“That old asylum!” Shawn and Lassie looked at Gus’s excited face. “The one from that sorority case. Where Juliet-”

“-Fought that girl with the axe. Guster, I think you’re right.” Lassiter thought about what he had just said. “Surprisingly.” Gus scowled at him. 

“To the Blueberry!” Shawn started walking towards the door, but stopped when he noticed neither his best friend nor the head detective were following. “What’s up?”

“We are not taking my company car on some mystery scavenger hunt through the city.”

“But isn’t that what we usually do?” Gus rolled his eyes.

“And I don’t want to be cooped up in the back of that tiny excuse of a car for no good reason.” Lassiter stretched his long legs as if to ward off the impending cramps.

Shawn sighed. “Well, I guess we could take my bike. Gus, you take the handlebars. And Lassie, you’ll have to hold on tight-”

“Absolutely not, Spencer. We’ll take my car.” Lassiter brushed past Shawn’s shrug as Gus walked up next to him. They looked at each other for a split second before they both took off for the door. 

“Shotgun!”

“Oh no you don’t, Shawn.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shawn, Gus, and Lassiter stood outside the building. “Looks like it’s doing great.” Shawn could not keep his voice from slightly shaking with fear, remembering all that had happened in this building… or at least, in some cases, what he thought had happened. Shaking those memories away, he walked up to the front door. It sagged on his hinges, but bright sunlight helped take away a lot of the building’s spookiness. 

“I wonder what we’re looking for.” Gus was also nervous, but he had come a long way from that old case. Shawn looked at his friend and raised his eyebrows to check in. Gus nodded that he was fine. Lassiter, oblivious to all of this, inspected the door.

“‘ _Spooky sounds seem to come from the cracks._ Maybe that means…” He looked closer at the crack in the door, made bigger by the failing hinges. With a muffled exclamation, he pulled out an oddly shaped white object. He gingerly handed it to Shawn and tried to brush the house off his hands.

Shawn realized it was a piece of paper with cuts and folds. He carefully opened it to find a cute paper chain made of ghosts. There was another message written on it. Gus and Lassiter went behind Shawn to read it:

**You’ve found some nice ghost friends!  
** **Now the next? Let me explain.  
** **Do you remember when someone fooled us  
** **And made us think the dead walked again?**

The three looked up from the chain. “When did we work with zombies? I think I would remember that.” Shawn and Lassiter nodded at Gus’s statement. 

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t actually be working with zombies, since whoever it is fooled us-”

“Wait!” Lassiter stopped talking and looked at the fake psychic’s sudden spasms. “I’m seeing someth-”

“Spit it out, Spencer.” Shawn looked at Lassie with annoyance, but skipped the first part of his act.

“I’m seeing a different walking dead. Pyramids… nutritionists? No.” Lassiter rolled his eyes as Shawn opened his. “Mummies.”

“Oh my god, that museum case!” Gus’s voice was filled with excitement. Shawn fed off of it and started bouncing. 

“Yes! We need to get to the museum!” Shawn and Gus ran to the car while Lassie rolled his eyes and followed them much slower. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shawn pulled open the door and held it for Lassie and Gus. They entered the museum and made their way towards the front desk. The clerk looked up and their face brightened. As they walked up, the clerk started to search their desk. 

“Hello, Cris,” Shawn read off the clerk’s tag. “I’m hoping you can help us with a fall mystery.”

“You guys found it!” The clerk pulled out a paper shaped like a cat. “When your friend told me their plan, I thought it was so cool, and I remember when I was little-”

“Just give us the paper, kid.” Lassiter snatched the cat. He turned to go, before stiffly turning around. “Thank you.” The clerk smiled at him. Lassie grimaced and kept walking.

As Gus followed Lassie, Shawn leaned on the counter. “So, you wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me who that friend is, would you?”

The clerk smiled. “I’m afraid I was sworn to secrecy. And I don’t want to cross them.” Shawn nodded and wished them a good day. As he turned around, the clerk called out. “You’re close, you know.” Shawn turned to face the clerk. 

“Thanks.” Shawn nodded again and went to his friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**You found the mummy!  
** **You close to the line/  
** **Now when you have a mummy,  
** **Who isn’t far behind?**

This is what the cat paper said. The three sat stumped in the parking lot.

“Tomb Raiders? Do we need to find Indiana Jones?”

“Indiana Jones isn’t real, Spencer.”

“What about Lara Croft?”

“Shawn.” Shawn and Lassiter stopped their battle to look at Gus. “There must be some other meaning.” 

“Some other meaning…” Shawn took the paper and reread the riddle. “Mummy instead of mom… OH!” Gus jumped at Shawn’s shout.

“What?”

“Mummys and Daddys! It’s a pun! I think we need to go to my dad’s house.”

“Do you think your dad did this?”

Shawn pictured Henry Spencer: retired cop, rule follower, sense of humor of a fish stick. “Nah. he’s not creative enough.” 

Gus shrugged. “You never know, Shawn.”

“Whatever his involvement, it’s his house we’re going to. Let’s go.” Lassiter climbed into his car. When the two Psych consultants didn’t join him, he checked the mirror. He muttered expletives under his breath before opening the door and yelling, “Stop playing rock paper scissors and get in the damn car!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They pulled up to the red-roofed house a few minutes later. All three of them peered through the windows to try and ascertain what was happening. When nothing happened, Shawn got out of the car and walked towards his childhood home. “Dad? You here?”

Lassiter and Gus exited the car and followed Shawn into the yard. Suddenly, the last person they expected ran around the house. 

“Jules!”

“Juliet! I thought you were sick.”

“O’Hara, what the hell is going on-”

Juliet ran up and hugged them all. “You guys did it! I was worried I didn’t do the clues well.”

“The clues were great, Juliet-”

“I KNEW IT!” Shawn’s crow cut off Gus’s reassurance. “My woman, coming up with this spectacular adventure.” Juliet lightly pushed the over exuberant man.

“It was pretty rushed, I only thought of it a week ago. I just managed to get all the permission. And I asked your dad to use his kitchen and yard. Mine is too small for something like this.” 

Lassiter sighed. “You did good O’Hara.” 

She smiled at her partner. “Thanks. You guys still have the clues, right?” They nodded. “Great! Then we have decorations and ingredients for pumpkin pie!” Shawn and Gus whooped at the mention of food and hurried back to the car. Lassie shook his head.

“Isn’t it a little early for pumpkin pie?”

“It’s never too early for amazingness, Lassie boy!” Shawn’s shout from the car made Lassie sigh a sigh only few could get out of him. The detective walked over to help the others get the clues out. As Shawn grabbed his pumpkin, he saw the writing on the bottom, reassuring him of the intent of the clue. 

“Alright kids, let’s get this pie going.” Henry was on his porch in one of his garish shirts, looking both annoyed and pleased by what was happening in his yard.

As Shawn and Gus walked towards the house, Shawn stopped. “Give me sec, I need to talk to Jules.” Gus nodded and gave him a fistbump as he walked towards the house. Shawn sauntered up to Juliet with his pumpkin. “Hey there. Come here often?”

Juliet laughed. “As a matter of fact, someone I like used to live here.”

Shawn smiled for a second, then got a pensive look. “You doing ok?” 

She nodded. “Yeah. I was talking to a friend about these scavenger hunts we used to set up as kids, and I got nervous just thinking about it.” Shawn nodded; Juliet had to take a break from work after her encounter with the puzzle writing psychopath. “And then I thought about what you said a week ago, about how we can’t let him win? And I figured maybe if i set this up for my friends, it could help replace the bad stuff. For everyone.” Shawn pulled her into a hug.

“Jules, you never cease to amaze me.” He pulled away. “Now, let’s go have some fun!”


	2. Leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn and Gus want to see fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just little Shawn and Gus friendship

“Gus!” Gus’s head snapped up to see his best friend Shawn running towards him. 

“No running in the cafeteria, Shawn!” he hissed as his friend slid into the seat across from him.

“Ah, they don’t care.” Shawn said this as he ignored a glare from the lunch monitor that implied that they did, in fact, care. Gus rolled his eyes as Shawn continued. “So you know how we were talking in class about seasons and decidious trees?”

“Deciduous trees. And yeah, why?

“Oh. Well, anyway, I was thinking. You always see kids in the movies playing in the leaves, and I don’t think it’s fair that we don’t get the chance just because we live in Santa Barbara, you know?”

Gus thought about it. “Well, I guess so. We do get a beach though. And I don’t see how we could-”

“I have a plan.” Gus saw that look in Shawn’s eyes that usually meant they were going to have a lot of fun, but in a way that would get in a LOT of trouble. 

It worried Gus that he knew this look as well as he did. 

But as Shawn explained his plan, it seemed much tamer than normal. 

“Will your dad mind?” 

“It’ll be fine, Gus. We’ll clean it all up!” He wasn’t sure why he even bothered asking the question any more. Shawn almost seemed to want the answer to be ‘no’ a lot of the time. But old habits die hard, especially when he still cared about _his_ folks’ opinion on these matters. But in the end, Shawn was his best friend. He was there for Gus through thick and thin, so Gus would do the same for him. And honestly, past of him was glad he had Shawn to help him out of his comfort zone. Sometimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next week, they collected as much fall-colored material as they could, hiding it in Shawn’s room. Once they thought they had enough, they started cutting it up. Gus started trying to make leaf shapes, but after Shawn’s incessant cajoling to go faster, he started shredding it instead. Soon they had two pilfered garbage bags full of paper and cardboard. 

“Alright,” Shawn whispered from his window, “my dad just left. Let’s go!” They hurried out to the yard and dumped their bounty into a pile. They stepped back a moment to admire their handiwork: a big pile of warm, autumn colors contrasting with the palms and the beach in the distance. 

“We did it.” Gus looked over at his friend with a smile. Shawn grinned back, offering a balled up fist. Gus gave him a fist bump.

“CHARGE!” The two friends sprinted at the pile and jumped, landing as a mass of flailing limbs. Their giggles rose through the air like an autumn breeze they had never known, content in a world of their own creation. 

They played for almost an hour, jumping again and again, having leaf fights. They didn’t notice the car return to the house.

“Shawn, Gus.” The two looked up at Henry Spencer with innocence painted on their faces.

“Hiya dad. We were just…”

“Doing some scientific exploration.”

“Yeah! We wanted to live in fall since we were learning about it.” Shawn and Gus checked Henry’s face. It flickered with amusement. 

“Well, boys, I suppose I can get behind ‘science’.” Gus didn’t like the implied quotes around science. “I’m going to go get something to help.”

Henry disappeared around back. “The science thing was good, Gus! I think we’re in the clear!”

Before Gus could voice his concern, Henry came back around with two rakes. “A big thing in places where leaves fall is raking!” He handed the rakes to the boys. “So science away.”

As Henry left, Shawn dejectedly got out of the pile. “You don’t have to stay, Gus.” Gus was surprised. Usually, Shawn was all about making him help when their plans went wrong. But he looked more disappointed than usual. Gus realized Shawn really thought they wouldn't get in trouble and felt bad. 

“Nah, my parents aren’t expecting me for hours. Besides,” he said with a smile, “this is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. You deserve the help. We’re in this together.”

So the two boys raked up their homemade autumn, laughing and joking. When they brought the refilled bags to Henry, he gave them a snack as per usual (peanut butter crackers, milk, and leftover pineapple). As they ate, Gus smiled. Shawn was back to his happy-go-lucky self. Gus offered up the fist bump this time, and Shawn returned it.

They were in this together, and for that he was thankful.


	3. Leaves, Revisited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adult version of Leaves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marlowe/Lassie  
> Takes place about four years after finale

Lily was four that fall afternoon Shawn and Gus came to visit. Carlton looked out the window as the two men walked up the path. Their visits couldn’t be called frequent (they were, of course, very busy in San Francisco), but they did try to visit Santa Barbara when they could, and always dropped in on her chief of police. 

“The boys are here!” He was met by a young shriek of joy and a patter of feet. His daughter popped into view and carefully came down the stairs, still nervous from a fall a few weeks before. He held her hand for the last few steps and led her outside, at which point she broke away to run up to her ‘uncles’. She ran into Gus’s legs with a hug, then turned to Shawn, who scooped her up like he always did. 

“Lassie! How are things going?” Shawn grinned up at Carlton as he spun Lily around. Carlton smirked at the nickname.

“I’m doing fine, Spencer. I hope you haven’t burned down San Francisco yet?”

“Oh, you know. A few close calls, but luckily…” With his free hand, Shawn brought his hand up to his temple in a familiar gesture that made Carlton roll his eyes. 

“Shawn, Gus! How was the drive?” Marlowe stood in the doorway behind Carlton. 

“It was fine, Marlowe. Traffic wasn’t too bad.” 

“I played some spooky music to get Gus in the mood.”

“Shawn, the Ghostbusters soundtrack isn’t spooky. It's campy.”

“I've heard it both ways.” 

Carlton chuckled at the shenanigans, watching as Shawn appealed to Lily, who was now sitting contently on his hip. “How’s lunch coming?” He turned as his wife put a hand on his shoulder.

“Almost done.”

“Then let’s get them all inside.” He nodded and headed inside. He heard everyone moving inside, Gus coming in first with a bag of offerings. 

“Thanks, you can put that there.” He indicated a counter in the kitchen. Shawn bounced in with Lily in tow.

“I put a pineapple in there for its fall appeal.” 

“Spencer, in what way does a pineapple, a tropical fruit, have ‘fall appeal’?”

“A pineapple is perfect for all occassions, my dear Lassie, and therefore has every appeal.”

“Why is it called fall?” Everyone looked down at Lily. She looked up at the adults, clearly waiting for an answer.

“Well, Lily.” Carlton bent down in front of her. “In some parts of the world, there are trees that lose their leaves this time of year, so they _fall_.” Lily’s eyes widened. 

“Do the trees die?”

“Well scientifically speaking, yes, in a way. But it’s so they don’t really die when it gets very cold later in the year.”

“Did you have to go into such morbid detail?” Gus looked accusingly at Carlton, but before he could ‘fix’ what he clearly thought was a tone-deaf response, Lily piped up.

“Oh. Ok. So they come back later?”

Carlton smiled. “Yes. It’s an amazing adaptation.” 

Lily looks over at Gus. “It’s ok, Gus. I can deal with it.” She was truly Carlton’s daughter.

“That’s right, Lily.” Shawn shot a wicked grin at Gus. “Gus is just inspired. When we worked our first case and Gus saw a body, he-” The shriek of pain from in his side was drowned out by Carlton’s laughter. 

“Where do the leaves go?” Lily and Carlton ignored the whisper war Shawn and Gus were waging to continue their discussion of fall. 

“Well, people will rake them up into piles and put them in bags to be thrown away. Sometimes kids will play in them. They can be used for fertilizer or a blanket-”

“You can PLAY in them?” Lily ran to the window. “When will ours fall?”

Carlton joined her at the window. “Well unfortunately, ours don’t fall.” Lily looked at him in shock. “It doesn’t get cold enough. Don’t you remember last year around this time? No leaves.”

Lily thought for a moment. “Dad,” she said seriously, “that was a _year_ ago. How would I remember?”

“Remember what?” Shawn and Gus had resolved whatever argument they were having and had now joined them at the window. 

“Oh, Lily wanted to know when our leaves would fall so she could play. But I was telling her they don’t.” Lily nodded sadly.

“Lily, come help set the table.” Hearing her mother’s call, Lily seemed to forget about the tragedy of the leaves and ran to assist. Carlton went back to the kitchen to finish lunch. 

“Shawn, we should go help.” When Shawn didn’t leave the window, Gus carefully tapped his shoulder. He turned around with a glint in his eye. “Oh no, Shawn-”

“We can give Lily a fall!”

“How?”

“Remember when we were kids?”

Gus’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, I had almost forgotten about that.”

“So, are you in?”

“Sure.”

Shawn smiled. “But first, food.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lunch, Shawn gestured Carlton over to the corner. “Lassie. I have a plan.”

“For what? And why are we whispering?”

“We’re gonna get Lily a fall!” Shawn’s faces was alight with excitement.

“What the hell are you talking about, Spencer? You can’t just make fall.”

“That’s what you think. But Gus and I have done it before.” Carlton raised an eyebrow. He thought about it for a second. Shawn and Gus had done some seemingly impossible things before…

“I don’t know.”

Shawn stopped fidgeting and looked Carlton dead in the eye. “Do you trust me?”

Carlton thought again. Thought through eight years of working with this man. All the stupid things he’d done. All the cases he solved…

“Yes. Yes I do.” 

Shawn opened his mouth to respond, but stopped as what was just said actually registered. He obviously hadn’t expected Carlton to say that and had a witty retort prepared. While he was disoriented, Carlton clapped him on the shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything.”

As he turned to leave, Shawn called out. He turned to face him. 

“Thanks, Lassie.” Before he could respond, he watched Shawn disappear to the next room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through the afternoon, the adults took turns playing with Lily, sharing stories with each other, and launching Shawn and Gus’s plan. They would tap people out of Lily’s game to go collect paper, cut out templates, and locate the garbage bags in the pantry. Lily noticed, of course, but didn’t think too much of it. She was pretty much just happy she got to play with her family, uncles included. 

After a few hours, the bags were full. Carlton was desperately hoping that Shawn’s earlier mission to next door hadn’t escalated neighbourly tensions (though honestly, if they wouldn’t stop throwing their hedge clippings over the fence, he probably would just escalate them anyway). But it had rewarded them with more material, so he didn’t feel _too_ bad. Shawn and Gus took these bags and told Marlowe and Carlton to keep Lily away from the window for a bit.

Once they had snuck out of the room, Carlton called his daughter. She came running in, excited for whatever was next. “Alright, gang, let’s-”

“Where’s Shawn and Gus?” _Damn it._

“Um. They needed to get something from the car.” Lily seemed to be appeased by this. 

Marlowe had grabbed a balloon and blown it up real quick. “Hey Lily, let’s show your dad the game we play.”

“Ooh! Ok.” Lily grabbed Carlton’s hand and pulled him to the center of the room. “Now, we throw the balloon up and try to keep it off the ground.” Carlton, for his part, pretended he had never heard of such a game and let Lily coach him in its techniques.

“Dad, you can use your feet too!”

“If it lands on the chair, it’s ok, you just have to get it before it hits the ground.”

For the next ten minutes, they played with the balloon. Carlton forgot about their plan until Shawn and gus slid into the room. 

“We’re back! What’re you guys doing?” Shawn winked at Carlton before walking over to him. “Would you like to do the honors?’, he said in a low voice. At Carlton’s nod, he turned back to Lily, who was earnestly explaining the game. Shawn also valiantly lied about having played any game like it.

Carlton walked over to his window to see a pile of the paper and cardboard he had helped cut up. Even though he had caught on pretty quickly (it wasn’t exactly the most intricate of plans), it was still a pleasant thing to see. He turned towards the room where the balloon game was being played.

“Hey Lily! It looks like someone heard you talk about fall!”

He heard the adults over-enthusiastically wonder what he was talking about. Lily trotted into the room, balloon in hand. She joined her dad at the window and caught sight of the pile. 

With a scream of delight, she dropped the balloon and ran outside. The others came into the room laughing. They watched as Lily approached the pile carefully. 

“Should we help her?”

“Nah, she’s got it.” Shawn and Carlton looked at each other and smiled at their synchronization. 

They looked back to see Lily backing up from the pile. With a wild grin, she sprinted for the pile and dove in, the fake leaves momentarily burying her. She surfaced, giggling, and gestured to the watchers to come join. Marlowe and Gus went out the door and lined up with the young girl. 

Her giggles rose through the air like an autumn breeze she had never known, content in a world of her family’s creation. 

Shawn was smiling out the window when Carlton surprised him with a hug. “Thanks, Shawn.”

“No problem, Carlton.” Shawn quirked an eyebrow at the use of first names. He patted Carlton's shoulder one more time and went out to join in the fun. Carlton watched out the window. Gus and Shawn shared a fist bump, Marlowe and Lily threw leaves at each other. With a laugh, he went out to join the festivities. They were, after all, part of a family twelve years in the making. 

They were in this together, and for that he was thankful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again!


	4. Our House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to a Haunted House

Shawn and Gus walked into Chief Vick’s office to find Lassiter, Juliet, Woody, and the chief waiting for them. 

“Thanks for finally showing up, Spencer.”

“Hi Lassie!” Shawn grinned up at the lanky head detective. “I missed you too.”

“Spencer-”

“Gentlemen.” Shawn and Lassiter turned to face the chief. “Thank you. I called you all here to get some input on an request from city hall.”

“Am I finally getting a real badge?”

“In your dreams, Spencer.”

“Lassie, I think I deserve one at this point.”

While Lassiter and Shawn argued, Woody turned to Gus. “Maybe they’re finally getting to that new equipment list I submitted!” 

“Woody, I don’t think the city is going to let you have a slushee machine. It’s unsanitary.”

Juliet sighed and looked at Chief Vick. Vick rolled her eyes before raising her voice above the group. “Can we focus, please?” Everyone slowly pivoted back to her. “Thank you. The city is starting a new initiative to promote a sense of teamwork in the Santa Barbara government. To accomplish that here, I have divided the force up into the groups that tend to work together. Those groups will do some kind of ‘team building’ to satisfy the state.”

“Why is Spencer here, then?” Juliet glared at her partner. “What? He’s not a part of the force.”

“Mr. Spencer is a consultant, yes. But you all work together so often, I figured it would be good to include Psych.” Lassiter grumbled to himself, but didn’t comment further.

“It is interesting that we seem to work together so often. It’s almost like a TV show.”

“What are you talking about, Shawn?”

“I mean, you couldn’t have a consultant working with a bunch of different detectives. It would take away from the drama. I mean, look at us! I could see us posing for some quirky cover art.”

“Shawn, that’s ridiculous.” Gus thought for a second. “Which one of us would be the main character?”

“One of you? Guster, clearly the show would follow ME.”

“I don’t know Lassie. I think I would make some compelling television.”

“He has a point, Shawn. I think people are into gritty police shows nowadays.”

“Gus, don’t be that thing you use to poke designs onto pumpkins. Who wouldn’t want to see a show following a psychic detective?”

“Who would?”

“Gentlemen.” Chief Vick waited while Shawn and Gus once again turned back around. She ignored their mumbled apologies as she continued. “Now, you are supposed to come up with an activity. It can be anything that you think will somehow bring you closer together.”

“With all due respect Chief, this is ridiculous.”

“Actually Carlton, it’s been shown that people do better in high stress situations when they have a stronger sense of camaraderie with their coworkers.”

“O’Hara, I don’t care what some two-bit scientist thinks about this.” As the prospect of explaining once again that yes, global warming is real seemed imminent, Juliet cut Lassiter off mid-sentence.

“How about laser tag?”

Shawn winced. “Actually Jules, Gus and I were banned from there a few years back.”

“Why?”

“Well, Gus and I decided-”

“You decided, Shawn. I told you it was a bad idea.”

“Really, Gus? You can’t let this go, can you?”

“I refuse to accept responsibility for this. Why would you think it was a good idea to blindfold-”

“I can’t do this with you right now. How about,” Shawn said as he turned to the rest of the group, “we do a pottery painting thing?”

Lassie stared at him. “I would rather replace all my bacon with turkey bacon.”

“Well, you could put that turkey bacon on your painted plate!”

Lassiter huffed in annoyance. “How about you all come over and help me redo the living room?”

“What are you thinking of doing?”

“Well, I want to move the tv to-”

“Detective, we will not be doing your housework as a team building exercise.”

“I’m sorry. We, Chief?”

“Yes, Mr. Spencer. I have to participate in all the activities as head of the department. So I would very much appreciate it if we could come up with something.”

Gus looked up in excitement. “Hey, what about that new haunted house?”

Chief Vick looked intrigued. “Where is it?”

“You know that old house?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific, buddy. There are a lot of old houses. Like the White House. Or Hogwarts.”

“Hogwarts isn’t a house, Shawn.”

“Jules, castles are just big houses.” She opened her mouth to respond, then decided against it. Lassiter, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

“More importantly, Spencer, it’s not real.”

Shawn gasped. “How dare you, Lassie? Dumbledore said-” Shawn’s voice died as he looked at Gus. “Sorry. What house?”

“The one on Salinas. It was in the paper.” At Gus’s words, Shawn remembered glancing at that article a few days ago. At the time, he swore he wouldn’t step foot inside. Unfortunately, Lassiter spoke before he could raise objections.

“Alright Guster, let’s go to this haunted house.” Lassiter pulled out his phone. “When are we doing this?”

“Whoa whoa, Lassie. Are we sure everyone wants to go? We don’t want to force anyone into a situation they don’t want to be in.” He looked around the room. Everyone shrugged. His head snapped over to Gus. “Gus. C’mon, you didn’t even look up the last one we went to. And that was a crappy carnival one!”

“For your information Shawn, I have gotten a lot better with haunted houses. Besides, this might be a safe way to replicate high stress situations.”

Before Shawn could reply, Lassie spoke up. “While this has been a fascinating discussion, how about we decide when we are going to do this government-mandated mushy stuff and move on?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shawn tried to act nonchalant as he went over to Juliet’s desk. “So, how about that haunted house?” Juliet looked up at Shawn to see him fidgeting and looking around the room. 

“What's up, Shawn?” 

“What’s up?” Juliet raised an eyebrow at the forced casualness in his tone. “What is up is the fact that we’re going to a super scary-AWESOME haunted house, and I wanted to make sure you were ok, and-”

“Shawn, if you don’t want to go, you should say something.” She ignored his overly dismissive noises and continued. “You don’t have anything to prove.”

Shawn opened his mouth to reply, then stopped. He grabbed the chair from the desk next to Juliet and rolled over to be near her. “Ok fine. I don’t really want to go to this thing. But I am trying to show myself that I can handle this, you know? Since I have the opportunity?”

Juliet nodded slowly. “Alright.” After a beat, she turned to Shawn. “It’s also about Carlton, isn’t it?”

“Oh god yes.”

“Aren’t you two getting better?”

Shawn sighed. “Yes, Jules. But we still battle for dominance.” Juliet laughed as Shawn started miming claws. “It’s a jungle out there, Jules-”

“Can I have my chair please?” Shawn and Juliet looked up at the detective, then down to the chair Shawn had stolen.

“Absolutely, my good sir.” Shawn got up and pushed the chair to the detective with a flourish. The detective rolled his eyes as he maneuvered the chair back to his desk.

“So you’ll be ok?” Shawn looked at Juliet and smiled.

“I’ll be fine. I have a bunch of people to cower behind.” He looked over and saw Gus coming over to retrieve him. “I’ll see you later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Carlton, please just leave the guns here.”

“O’Hara, I don’t see why I have to leave them. I am a trained officer.”

“Lassie, I’m with Jules on this one. I’ve seen you point a gun at an old lady on life support, a dog-”

“Fish, open ocean-”

“A pebble dropping, wind-”

Lassiter scowled at Shawn and Gus. “I had probable cause- You two are not helping.” He whirled back to O’Hara. “I wouldn’t fire-”

Before he could finish, the chief walked up. “Detective, just pointing the gun is bad enough. Please leave your weapons here.” Lassiter muttered bitterly, but started pulling his guns out of their holsters. 

“Hello friends!” 

The group turned. “Wow, Woody. It’s weird seeing you out of a lab coat.” What Shawn didn’t mention was the tattered wizard robes Woody wore instead.

“Strode, what the hell are you wearing?” 

“Well Detective, I wanted to get into the Halloween mood!”

“I mean, to be fair. You do work with dead people for a living. I feel like you are more in the mood than us most of the time.”

“That is fair, Juliet. But I wanted to explore a different side of this wonderful holiday.”

Lassiter rolled his eyes. “Can we get this show on the road? I don’t want to do this for any longer than necessary.”

Shawn noticed Lassiter eyeing his guns. “Don’t worry, Lassie. Your guns are speaking to me.” He put his finger to his head, making Lassiter groan. “They say they’ll be fine without you for a night. But-”

“Shut up, Spencer.” Lassie walked off, leaving the rest to follow in his slightly annoyed wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to Hill of Chills.” The teen working the front path wore clothes that probably fit him a few days ago, but a growth spurt had caused sizeable gaps at the wrists and ankles. Or maybe, Shawn thought, it was part of the costume. “The most chilling haunted experience in Santa Barbara.”

“Chilling, you say? Well unfortunately, I forgot my hoodie at home. So I’m afraid-” Shawn’s thought was cut off by a swift elbow from Gus. Gus looked over to see his friend’s affronted look.

“You are not leaving me alone in there, Shawn.”

“I thought you were getting better at haunted houses.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to leave, Shawn.”

“Gentlemen.” The chief was raising her eyebrows at the two members of Psych. After they mumbled apologies, she turned back to find Lassiter talking to the teen.

“Now, are your miserable little friends going to be touching me? Because if so-”

“Sir, all that will be covered inside. Please continue through the door.” Before Lassiter could respond, Juliet pushed him through the door.

“You’ve done a very nice job replicating black mold here!” Woody was inspecting the doorway. “Your spore patterns are incredible.” The teen looked at Woody with what would have been confusion if he had actually cared about anything happening around him. Before Woody could continue blocking the door and grossing out other guests, Shawn and Gus pulled him inside.

“Welcome to the Hill of Chills.” They were in a lobby surrounded by other guests. In front, a young man in a vampire costume was speaking to the crowd. 

Shawn tuned out and looked around the room. His eye landed behind the desk to the right of the entrance into the rest of the house. He saw flickering light, indicating tv monitors under the counter. He also noticed a board with switches and buttons. He assumed this was the control center. 

Gus must have noticed Shawn drifting, because he nudged him and pointed at the vampire. “Pay attention. Shawn. He’s giving the rules.” Shawn focused back on the speaker.

“The actors cannot touch you, and we ask that you do not touch them. There will be some set elements you can’t avoid touching, but please do not reach out over barriers. Remember. You came here to be scared. Please don’t threaten or berate our people for doing that.”

The group collectively looked at Lassiter. “What?” he hissed. Before anyone could answer, the man at the front put on a very bad vampire voice.

“And now, prepare to be shocked by the happenings on this Hill of Chills.” At that, the lights in the room went out, leaving only fake candles by the door. Excited murmuring filled the room as the crowd started filing in. The vampire was letting a few groups in at a time for spacing. 

“It’s not too late to leave now, Shawn.” 

“C’mon, son. We got this.” He lightly punched Gus in the arm to psych him up. Gus returned, leading to a mock fight that only stopped when they noticed their whole group staring at them. 

“Um.” 

Before either could say anything, Lassiter rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.” He turned around, mumbling to himself.

They slowly made their way to the door. When they got there, the vampire bowed with a flourish. “See you on the other side, one way or another.”

Shawn chuckled. He elbowed Juliet. “You get it? Other side like dying…” He stopped talking at her look. 

“I get it Shawn.”

“Alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh my god.” Shawn was sitting on the sidewalk outside the house. “I did it.” He thought for a second. “No, you know what? We did it.”

“Spencer, you and Guster hid behind O’Hara and me the whole time.”

“Exactly. WE did it. Look at us, building teaminess.”

“That’s not a word, Shawn. You mean camaraderie...I think.”

“I’ve heard it both ways.” Gus clicked his tongue at Shawn.

“Spencer, shouldn’t you have been able to ‘see’ the scares coming up?”

“Lassie, you know that’s not how my powers work!” 

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I was impressed with the bodies they had in there! I think that skeleton in the second room was real.”

“Woody, I don’t think they had a real skeleton.”

Lassiter sighed. “Well, I didn’t learn anything new. Strode is obsessed with dead things.” Woody nodded cheerfully. “And O’Hara and I do the real work while Spencer and Guster follow us like scared puppies.”

Shawn scoffed. “I was totally ready to defend you both. You just seemed to have it under control.”

“Despite your opinion, Detective Lassiter, I think this was a good exercise.” Lassiter turned to the chief in puzzlement. “For one, you stopped almost hitting the people by the end.”

“That’s true! Jules didn’t have to grab you!” 

Lassiter glared at Shawn. Before he could say anything, the chief continued. “O’Hara, you and Detective Lassiter were getting better at communication getting through the maze. Woody, I suppose your examination of the fake bodies was some kind of practice?”

“Oh yes, Chief. But I’m not sure they were-”

“Woody, the bodies were not real.” Woody looked disappointed. 

“And Psych did help us through that maze as well.” Shawn and Gus grinned at the chief. “You also screamed less as we went through.”

“That was because I froze,” Gus hissed to Shawn.

“I know. But she doesn’t have to know that,” Shawn hissed back.

“Alright, wonderful. We got some value out of this waste of time, bureaucratic nonsense.”

“C’mon Lassie. You enjoyed it.” Lassiter glared at Shawn. “Anyways, how about we go get some of that pineapple soft serve from the pier?”

The group agreed (some more reluctantly than others) and split off to their cars. Shawn fell back to walk with Juliet. 

“Wasn’t that fun?” Juliet looked over to gauge Shawn’s reaction. He shrugged with a grin.

“Oh you know. Par for the course.” Juliet raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I was terrified. But isn’t that supposed to be cleansing? I feel more alive now.”

“Sure, Shawn.” They walked towards the Blueberry, screams rising from the house behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Curses, Spencer (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn and Lassie arrest an eclectic man, only to wake up to find he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first part of a story. Anxiety is a theme throughout.

“Oh no. I’m getting a vision. Gus. GUS.” Shawn stood in the Santa Barbara police department, wildly shaking. Gus moved closer to Shawn, joining in the performance. 

“What is it, Shawn?”

“The SPIRITS, Gus! Oh, they’re so loud…”

“Spencer, are you trying to be more annoying than usual? Or am I just exceedingly unlucky?”

Shawn opened his eyes a little to look at Lassiter. “Lassie, I can’t control the spirits. Especially when they’re helping me solve your case.” Lassiter growled at ‘your’, but before he could say anything, Shawn shrieked.

“Oh! I’m getting something!” Gus tried not to roll his eyes. Lassiter was right: Shawn had been acting out more than usual the past few days. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they first got this case, they were both in the car, having just left the police station. Gus glanced over at Shawn to see his best friend almost vibrating from his nervous fidgeting. Gus looked back at the wheel, and turned off the car.

“What the hell, man? We have to go look at that lead.” Shawn was fussing with his hair unconsciously, running his fingers through over and over.

“You’re acting weird, Shawn. You destroyed Lassiter in there.”

Shawn chuckled mirthlessly. “Don’t I always, Gus? Look, I don’t know why you’re interrogating me for Lassie being particularly-”

“Shawn.” Shawn stopped talking. Gus turned as much as he could towards Shawn, which made Shawn try to look like he wasn’t avoiding eye contact. “I’m worried. We haven’t really talked since Yin-” 

“I’m fine! God, first Jules, now you?” Shawn was now looking at Gus, venomous annoyance surrounding him. “Like I told her, I’m FINE.”

“Alright. Fine. She might believe that because you’re always fine around her. But me?” Gus was getting annoyed as well. “I know your tells, Shawn. The hair, the energy-”

“They aren’t tells, Gus. They’re just-”

“And most importantly,” Gus continued, raising his voice over Shawn’s objection, “the more you insist you’re fine, the less fine you are.”

Shawn closed his mouth, swallowing his words. He looked into Gus’s face and tried to save his melting facade. “Not all the time. I come to you sometimes.”

“Yes, you do. But you know as well as I do that you hate talking about how you’re doing.”

“Yeah yeah, ‘I let my anxiety keep me from getting help from those around me’. My mom likes that line a lot.”

“Your mother is a psychologist, that isn’t exactly surprising.”

Shawn snorted and slumped back into his seat. After a period of silence, he spoke. “Yin’s kind of messing me up, and then my dad and I got in a fight. The combo hasn’t been great.”

“I think that’s an understatement.” Shawn glanced over with a smile. 

“Alright, Dr. Phil. Can we get going now?” In response, Gus turned the car back on. Shawn was noticeably calmer, though he still fidgeted. Gus knew he couldn’t expect Shawn to completely recover with just a 90 second conversation, but was glad he had made him push against the anxiety for a bit. 

“And Shawn? Try to be a little nicer to Lassie.” 

A fleeting look of guilt passed over Shawn’s face. It was, however, replaced with a familiar impish grin. “I’ll just have to bother everyone equally!” 

Gus sighed. He wasn’t sure what he expected...actually, he was. This was it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, Gus was watching Shawn perform for the station; his screams had attracted employees from around the building, using their in-house psychic as semi-regular entertainment. He watched Lassiter’s face slowly redden, hoping Shawn was doing the same. Luckily, Shawn moved on from his word association game right before Gus got ready to elbow him. 

“I’m seeing a red awning. And some powerful plants in the door. I think-”

“That whack-a-doo from 9th street?”

“Carlton.” Juliet entered the circle just in time to deliver the familiar warning. At this point, she considered it a part of her job description to try and keep her partner from saying wildly insensitive things about (or worse, directly to) people he dealt with. 

“Jules! Your spirit is helping those beyond the veil.”

She reflected on the fact that her internal job description was getting quite lengthy. 

“Alright, can it Spencer. Let’s get over there.” Lassiter walked over to grab his keys from his desk. At that moment, Gus’s phone started ringing. He excused himself to take the call, mouthing ‘work’ at Shawn. As he stepped away, Chief Vick walked up to Shawn and Jules.

“Detective, I’m going to need you in interrogation room B” Juliet turned to her in surprise. “It’s Darla Sampson. We need her statement. I want a woman to take it, and I think having me take it was intimidating her.”

Juliet nodded in understanding. Shawn didn’t know much about the case, but knew enough to know that the Chief’s instincts were sound. “See you later, Jules.” She smiled at him and followed the Chief. When Lassie returned, Shawn turned to him. “Look’s like it’s just us three-”

“Two.” Shawn spun in surprise. “Emergency work call. I have to go.” Lassiter’s eyes widened as he realized what this meant. 

“Absolutely not.” 

“Lassie, we don’t have time. Besides, he might be easier to deal with if we have a kindred spirit with us.” As Shawn said his last bit, he raised his finger to his head, his innocent front cracking ever so slightly as Lassie closed his eyes. 

“Fine. Come on.” 

“Shotgun!”

“Spencer, you’re the only one who can call it.”

“That means it’s even more important that I do so.”

Lassiter glared at Gus. Gus shrugged back as Shawn started walking to the parking lot. 

“Spencer, no talking on the way there!” He knew there was no way that would ever happen in his lifetime, but one had to try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And then, after they trusted you, joined your special group, you stole all their information.” Shawn looked up from his ‘vision’. “It was all just a credit card scam. And then our victim found out, and you had to get rid of him.” The man in front of him smiled slightly.

“Alright. You got me. But like I said before, you are going to regret pursuing this case.”

“Regret doing my job? I don’t think so, Adam.” Lassiter walked over and started cuffing him. “In fact, I tend to like when I get to bring a scamming fraud to justice.” He glared at Shawn over Adam’s head.

“Lassie, that cuts deep. And sir, though I can’t help you with the scamming bit, I know how hard it is to be called a fraud. Hopefully, you’ll find more understanding in prison.” Lassiter rolled his eyes before reading Adam his rights. 

On the trip back, Adam didn’t say a word. Shawn filled the void by expounding on the impending release of a movie Lassiter had never heard of. When arrived back at the station, they watched as he was led away. He turned around and grinned at them before speaking. “See you tomorrow, then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yesterday, someone at work started going on about how you needed to be completely focused to succeed in this business. I don’t think he knows what I do, but I had a dream the night before about getting fired again.”

“Well, they might feel they need to be 100% focused on their job in order to do it, but you’re cool enough that you not only have extra focus for food and blinking, but you can come have a fun time solving crime with me.”

“You don’t need to focus on blinking, Shawn.”

“That’s besides the point.”

Shawn and Gus sat in the Psych office that night, a pizza between them. They had decided back when Psych was first starting up to have a regular meeting where they talked through whatever was happening. This was their first real meeting since Yin, and they had talked at length about it when they first sat down. Now, they had moved on to more standard topics. 

“Alright, you’re up. Anything else you need to talk about?” Shawn immediately got an evasive look. 

“Um…”

“Shawn.”

“Look, I promise I’ll tell you when the time is right. But that’s not now.” Shawn looked at Gus, uncertainty clouding his eyes. Gus could tell that Shawn wasn’t just trying to get out of talking, so he nodded. Shawn sat back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling in thought. After a moment, he spoke again. “I guess I do have something else. When we were arresting that guy today-”

“Shawn. You aren’t actually a psychic. You don’t have to pretend with me that you believe him.”

“I know, I know. He just seemed… eerie. And you don’t need magic or whatever to do some messed up stuff, you know?”

Gus nodded. “I hear that. You said he talked about tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess we’ll know more tomorrow.” Shawn nodded. They started cleaning up, ready to get some sleep. Before they left, Shawn went over and hugged Gus. It had surprised him when his friend had started doing it awhile ago. But now they both appreciated this addition to their meeting routine. 

“Have a good night.”

“You too, Shawn.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Hello.**

Shawn jolted from what he thought was sleep to find himself in a void. He took a few breaths to steady himself before speaking into the darkness. “Hi, I guess. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but if we could return to my dream that would be great. You see-”

**Oh, I don’t think so, Shawn Spencer. We have some things to discuss.**

“Well. Since you have to be my subconscious, I’m sure we can find another time to discuss whatever things you’re talking about. You are with me all of the time. I think. I’d have to ask Gus, he knows more-”

**Stop talking.** The voice did not change from before, but Shawn felt a sense of dread wash over him. It continued. **I am not a part of you, simply borrowing some of your headspace.**

Shawn fought through the fear rising in his throat. “Well, in that case. I would welcome you and apologize for the mess, but seeing as you came uninvited, I feel I have to take a more aggressive approach.”

His skin crawled as a menacing laugh echoed around him. **Shawn Spencer. A man who uses words to hide his terror. You talk and talk, hoping you can find what you need to find to save the people you love. The people you have sworn to protect. But you can never find the words to help yourself, can you? You search for new ways to quiet that voice in your head, screaming at you, telling you that you need to keep going, that you’re messing up, that you can’t protect them.**

“Stop.” Shawn, surprisingly, kept his voice steady. But the voice went on.

**So you talk and you talk, the only way you have to protect yourself. Well. I guess I know what I have to do, then.**

Shawn waited, not wanting to find out what the voice meant. But as the seconds dragged on, the silence simply sat in the air around him, suffocating him, until he was compelled to break it. “So, I guess I’ll be going now?”

**Yes. But remember.** Shawn threw his hands up as he was suddenly surrounded by light. **I told you that you would regret it.**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shawn jerked awake. Sorting through the curses running through his head, his half-asleep brain settled on a sigh melded with a silent scream. 

Though his alarm had not gone off yet, it was close enough he figured he might as well get out of bed. The still-asleep half of him was displeased with this decision, but eventually fell to the arguments of ‘after that dream, I’m not sleeping anytime soon’. 

As he got ready, he was quieter than usual. He didn’t know if he was still caught in the dream or just tired from the past few weeks. Probably didn’t matter. As he was contemplating this, his phone vibrated. He saw Gus’s face as he grabbed it, flopping down on his bed. He raised it up to his and said hello.

Well, he tried to say hello. Nothing came out. He tried again. Nothing.

“Shawn?” He grabbed at his throat in confusion. He could still breathe. His throat didn’t hurt. “Shawn, are you there?” He tried again. Nothing came out. “This isn’t funny.” He desperately tried to say his friend’s name, getting more and more scared as nothing worked. “Shawn, I’m going to-” Before Gus could finish, Shawn hung up. 

What the hell was wrong with him? 

He quickly texted Gus, fighting the panic swirling through his whole body.

> I’m fine.
> 
> At least I think so.
> 
> I can’t talk
> 
> But I’m like alive and all
> 
> Shawn stop
> 
> And not kidnapped
> 
> SHAWN
> 
> Sorry
> 
> Ok, I’m going to come get you. 
> 
> Ok. Thanks. 

Shawn finished getting ready, the whole time trying to talk with no success. Finally, he ended up just screaming in his living room, desperate to make any noise. It didn’t work. But it did make him feel a little better. Soon enough, he heard a knock at the door. As soon as he opened it, Gus came in looking worried.

“So what exactly do you mean, you can’t talk?” 

~~I mean I can’t talk.~~ Of course, nothing came out, but Gus’s eyes still widened in understanding.

“Wow. Have you been sick?” Shawn shook his head. “Um. Well. What should we do?”

Shawn thought for a bit. Then he started doing something Gus vaguely recognized as ASL. 

“Shawn, I don’t know sign language.” Shawn cursed and went over to his desk. After fishing around for a second, he found a bit of paper and a pencil and wrote something down. _go to station. Keep working. I’m fine._ Gus looked at Shawn, his face a mask of determination. “You sure?” Shawn nodded vigorously. 

Gus shrugged and moved towards the door. Shawn went to get more paper. “Hey Shawn.” Shawn looked up. ~~yeah?~~ Gus tried not to react to his friend’s silent answer. “How do you know sign language?”

Shawn wrote on a scrap of paper and threw it at Gus. _I dated a deaf girl in Connecticut. She was nice._ Gus raised his eyebrows at the note. He knew he hadn’t heard all of Shawn’s stories, and at this rate, he didn’t think he ever would.

Another paper hit him on the shoulder. _I want a pineapple smoothie too._

“Sounds good to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Shawn and Gus showed up at the station, they found a furious head detective and his very confused partner. When they walked up, Juliet turned to them with an exhausted sigh. “He won’t talk. At all. I don’t know why.”

“Well, at least he can talk.” Juliet looked at Gus in confusion. He gestured at Shawn.

~~hi Jules.~~ Her eyes widened. “Are you sick?” Shawn shook his head with a sideways glance at Gus. She turned back to Lassiter. “Is that what’s going on with you?”

Lassiter shook his head stiffly. Shawn pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled on it, handing it to Juliet. _writing works for me. Also you look nice today._ She smiled at him before turning to Lassiter. “Try writing it?”

Lassiter quickly found paper and a pen and wrote for a long time. Just as the other three got concerned about the novel they were about to read, he stopped, read it over, and handed it to them.

_I woke up this morning. Got ready. Then I received a call from Chief Vick. But when I started talking, I could only speak in flowery idiocy. Rhyming and such. The chief was confused. I hung up. I tried everything but it always comes out weird._

Juliet looked up. “So you’re only talking in poems?” Lassiter nodded. 

Gus chuckled. “Man, you’re probably lucky Shawn can’t talk right now, because-” Gus stopped mid sentence as he caught a glimpse of Shawn’s face. Shawn quickly wrote something down and handed it to Lassiter. 

_any weird dreams?_

Lassiter looked into Shawn’s eyes and found no trace of humor. He slowly nodded. They pointed at each other, then down to the detention cells. Without a word, they both stalked towards the last person they thought they would have to deal with again.

Juliet and Gus looked at each other and followed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they got to the cell containing Adam, Shawn walked right up and banged the bars a few times. Adam looked up. Upon seeing who it was, he grinned and sauntered over, carefully staying out of reach.

“Well, well. You got here earlier than I expected.” He drank in the annoyed expressions in front of him before continuing. “I have to admit, I am curious what he ended up doing to you.”

“What do you mean by he?  
Is it he that set this curse upon me?”

Shawn looked at Lassiter in shock. He glared back, clearly daring Shawn to do something. Their heads snapped back to Adam’s laughter.

“He gave you poetry speech? Incredible! I love his sense of humor.”

~~What the hell are you talking about?~~ Adam looked at Shawn’s silent question in amusement. “You got silence. I like it.” He thought for a moment. “A little heavy handed maybe, but you probably need it.”

At that moment, Gus and Juliet came down the stairs. “What’s going on?”

Lassie and Shawn tried to speak at the same time.

“It seems this wicked man has gone  
And put a curse on me and Shawn.”

~~This dude somehow did this!~~

Both scrunched up their faces at their own attempts. Behind them, Adam had started to laugh again. 

“I see we have some friends that weren’t here yesterday. How delightful.”

Lassiter lunged at the bars while Shawn stepped between Adam and his friends.

~~don’t you dare~~

“Oh, don’t worry. I only made a deal to hurt whoever came yesterday. Your friends are safe.”

Shawn opened his mouth to speak, realized that wouldn’t help, and went to the wall to write something. Gus was staring wide-eyed into the cell and Lassiter was breathing heavily to the side, shooting murderous glances at Adam. Juliet mentally added to her job description and stepped forward.

“Adam, isn’t it?” He nodded. “Ok. Can you explain to us what you’re talking about?”

“Of course. See, you just had to ask nicely.” Shawn made a rude hand gesture at him, which he studiously ignored. “You see, I knew it was only a matter of time before your department found me. And I couldn’t go down without a fight, no? So I contacted an old friend of mine to curse whoever came in to arrest me.” At this point, Shawn hit Gus on the shoulder. His cry interrupted the conversation, at which point Shawn shoved a paper into Gus’s hand. Gus slowly read off the paper.

“ _I would like to note that calling not speaking a curse is insulting to people who actually cannot speak OR choose not to speak._ ” Gus looked up at Adam. “He has a point.” Shawn pointed at Gus triumphantly. 

“Well, Shawn, that is a good point. However, if those people were forced to speak, it would be a curse for them. Thereby, making someone who does speak not able to is, to them, a curse. Is that better?” Shawn nodded.

“Are we really arguing semantics with a dude who cursed you?”

“Mr. Guster, Shawn is simply fighting for what he believes in. A core part of him that should be celebrated.”

“How did you know my name?”

“Guys, let’s get this sorted.” Juliet waited for the members of Psych to quiet down before turning back to Adam. “Ok. So we could probably sit here for a while discussing whos and whys, but let’s just focus on how we fix this.”

“A splendid idea, Detective O’Hara! It’s simple, really. My friend gave these two the curses for a reason. All they have to do is learn the lesson he was trying to teach, and it will be resolved!”

The four stared at Adam in confusion. “But wasn’t the lesson you were trying to teach them ‘don’t arrest me’?”

“Mr. Guster, that was the reason I asked my friend in! He found deeper things inside each of them he wants them to address. He isn’t an evil entity. Neither am I, really.” He thought for a second. “I guess I’m just...what do you say these days… oh, petty.”

“There once was a man who was terse  
With Adam he didn’t want to converse.  
He wanted him gone  
In jail for quite long  
But not til he fixed himself first.”

“Ooh, very nice, detective. I do truly wish you the best of luck.” Lassiter scowled at Adam before walking away. The rest went to follow him, but Adam called out to Shawn. Shawn gestured the rest of them to go, then walked back to the cell.

~~What do you want?~~ Adam appraised Shawn. “I know who you are.” Shawn rolled his eyes and started to turn away. “I know you’re lying.” Shawn froze, but didn’t turn around. “But, I do appreciate you standing up for me, even if it was a joke.” Shawn’s back tensed up and he slowly turned around. ~~You’re an asshole.~~ Adam laughed. “Perhaps I am, Shawn, perhaps I am.” When he didn’t say any more, Shawn left him standing there, humming to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will do my best to finish this off in the next few weeks. Thanks for liking and commenting!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Likes and comments are great.


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